It’s a pretty exciting time to be a gamer. There are a whole lot of games and expansions all releasing around the same time. I don’t keep as up to date as I should on the non-mmo gaming front, so my list is probably a bit more sparse then some others out there. What am I looking forward to? Well, there’s the EQ expansion, Veil of Alaris that releases in November. I’m really excited about this expansion, it’s just beautiful. EQ2 is also putting out their ‘expansion’ (I use the term loosely) Age of Discovery. I’m a lot less excited about this update then I am about the EQ expansion. There’s not a lot of actual content coming with it, although with mercenary and a new class I will say that casual players should be pretty happy. I’m holding off on any other comments until I can actually get my feet into it because until then it’s just speculation. I’d be much happier if this was coming as a free update rather then a paid expansion. World of Warcraft has their 4.3 patch coming out (supposedly) some time in November, which I am also pretty excited about. I’m looking forward to new dungeons, new gear sets, and I’m really looking forward to appearance gear for once. I’m even looking forward to the raid finder tool, which I think will be fantastic for casual players who don’t have the time to devote to finding a raid guild – or those of us who are in tiny little 3-people guilds who haven’t been able to raid yet.
I did decide to sign up for a year of WoW in order to get Diablo 3 for free, along with the mount that will be released in 4.3. The game has enough casual aspects to it that I find it quite relaxing along with my adventuring in EVE Online. SWTOR release date is just around the corner, but not being a fan of sci-fi I haven’t pr-ordered and I’m not really sure if I’ll play. I know my other half will be picking up the game and I’ll probably just live vicariously through him and his adventures. Until the peer pressure becomes too great, of course.
Skyrim is one of those non-mmo games that are certainly on my radar, and I do plan on picking up once it releases. The game just looks beautiful and it’s been a while since I’ve played a single player. I don’t really think the sims 3 counts. Speaking of, I’ve been having loads of fun with their latest ‘pets’ expansion that released this month. It’s a great game when I’m not in the mood for anything multi-player.
So what are you most excited about? Perhaps nothing coming out tickles your fancy at all? Let me know in comments below!
Dead Island
Skyrim
Batman
Right now I’m waiting for Diablo III, which felt like a lot of fun when I got to touch the friends public beta Act I. It played just like I remembered Diablo II, but smoother, prettier and improved upon. In fact, I had such a good time with Act I, that I played it a second time with a different character and am now replaying Diablo II so I have the story straight in my head.
I’m also very excited about SWTOR because I’m a big Star Wars fan. I haven’t really gotten a good feel for it because of no play time, but I’m enjoying the videos setting up the backstory. And I like the sound of many of the things I’m hearing about it, although with the caveat of “it’s one thing to say you are going to do XYZ thing, it’s another to pull it off”.
And I’m still sort of playing EQ2. I haven’t logged into the game in a couple of weeks, but I know that I always end up going back to it. Norrath was my first gaming home in EQ1 and it will forever be my first gaming love.
I have The Old Republic on pre-order due to my love of Star Wars, but I hope to be mentally strong and stick to my plan of 2012 being the year I experience and complete as many games as possible. I really don’t want to put another years worth of gaming time into a solitary game.
The wife and I are having fun in Guild Wars filling our our Hall of Monuments in anticipation of Guild Wars 2. We are probably coming to the end of our time in World of Warcraft, for a variety of reasons, mostly relating to the changes that were introduced during the current patch. And we hope to take some of that WoW time to explore EQ2, which we’ve only stuck toes into before. EQ2 really reminds us of what WoW used to feel like (at least at the low levels that we are at currently, just in the upper 20s now) — feels more like “home” than WoW of late.
I am probably more excited than I should be about Rift patch 1.6. It just seems like a mini-expansion to me! Between 1.5, 1.6, and 1.7 I feel like we’ve almost picked up a “new box” so to speak.
So I’m really focused on that right now!
I’m semi-looking forward to the EQ2 expansion, but tbh haven’t really missed the game since I canceled my account last February. Even the “make good” time put on my account only saw me log in once and that was just to run around and check out the new housing options — didn’t really play it. I di log in my coercer and realized I’d forgotten half my skills and thus how to really play it. when you forget how to play your main, that’s not a good sign. I’m sure I would have picked it right back up, but I was on a big Rift kick still at the time, so I just didn’t have the interest.
Rift’s lost its luster for me now, though my sub runs through February. I subbed to Champion’s Online for the 2 months while I wait for SWTOR to come out — that’s the one I’m really excited for. After it’s out, we’ll see. If it holds my interest, that’ll probably be my main game. If not, I may go back to EQ2 then. Might just wait for the next expansion after AoD to come out though so I can get it all for 1, not buy 2 full expansions back-to-back.
I think the EQ2 expansion has the potential to fundamentally change the way MMOs are played. I am speaking of the new player designed dungeons. I see the future possibility of player driven content developing from the marriage of their already superior housing system with their new player designed dungeons. I forsee this evolving into entire player designed zones at a not-so-distant future.
My husband is looking forward to Skyrim, and possibly SWTOR (he’s still on the fence), but as I have no clue when Guild Wars 2 will release, I don’t have much to look forward to until then. I’ll just keep on… keeping on with Sims 3 for now.
As I’ve said elsewhere, I’m looking forward to EQ2’s Age of Discovery expansion more than any EQ2 expansion since Kunark. Despite having multiple Level 90 characters, both adventure and tradeskill, I’ve found very little of interest in the last several EQ2 expansions beyond the obligatory one or two overland zones, some new recipes and, when we’re really lucky, a level cap increase.
Age of Discovery actually looks like a proper expansion to me and I don’t share the sniffiness about it. Everyone stands to gain from a wide range of improvements and additions to mechanics. The dungeon creation system alone should potentially provide more content over time than we’d ever see from a traditional expansion, and anyone can see from what’s already being done with the housing tools that there are players every bit as capable in design as the people who are getting paid for it. Mercenaries worked brilliantly in EQ1 and not just for casuals or soloists, either. There were many fears expressed before they were introduced but they ended up being extremely popular and widely accepted.
My MMO plate is already ridiculously full anyway. Finding time to play more than a few titles is my main problem, since there are well over a dozen on my hard drives that I’d like to be playing. I’m expecting an EQ2 winter, mainly, because of the expansion but of course I always have Guild Wars 2 in mind. That’s the one MMO I really want to play. I was very much hoping it would release next spring but no-one seems to be expecting it that soon.
The next couple months are gonna be pretty great for gaming… especially for the PC, since we get Arkham City, and FINALLY get LA Noire… along with Skyrim, the next NFS game (sadly which looks kinda iffy, but ya never know), AC:Revelations, DC Universe Online is going free to play… in December SWTOR finally hits (and after getting a taste, I’m already hooked on that).
Frankly, I may have to sell a kidney to feed my gaming habit for the next couple months…
As I really only play EQ2 (have a WoW account, but rarely log in), the only thing I have to look forward to right now is the expansion. For me, the times leading up to SF and DoV were definitely more exciting than now.
The Beastlord Class sounds interesting, but considering how much (little) time I have to play my existing alts, I’m not sure how quickly I’ll jump on the Beastlord bandwagon.
My main has hit 300 AA, and other than grabbing some more raid gear, she’s been kind of boring to play. I don’t want to quest with her anymore, as I feel like I’m wasting experience. Hopefully she can get something to work towards.
To be honest, the thing I’m looking forward to the most has nothing to do with the expansion; it’s Frostfell. I’ve always said I enjoyed Nights of the Dead the most, and perhaps I still do.. but October has been such a crappy month for me, personally, that I haven’t really been able to enjoy it. That said, I really love Frostfell (a close second to Nights of the Dead), and as the holiday season usually means less work stress, I hope I can really enjoy it.
That’s okay, though. Just because there’s nothing “super exciting/new/cool” coming down the pipe for me doesn’t mean I don’t love EQ2 any less. No, the only thing that makes me love it less is when SOE nerfs crap stupidly. Let’s hope the nerfbat was “misplaced” so that we can enjoy the few remaining challenges in this game.
I’m not actually looking forward to anything, really. I’ve never played the Elder Scrolls series, and Guild Wars 2 is still nowhere close to a release. I do have Saints Row 3 and Assassins Creed: Revelations preordered, but I’ve barely touched the previous installments, so “excited” is probably the wrong word to use.
I’m excited about quite a few games releasing over the next few months, but I can’t buy them all unfortunately. Being a big fan of the Battlefield series, I had to pick up BF3 this past week. So most of my time over the next week and a half will be spent there. I was planning on skipping Skyrim in lieu of Saints Row: The Third and Assassins Creed: Revelations, but the game just looks too great to not get on day one. So, instead I hope for it and BF3 to hold my attention until SWTOR releases in December. Then it’s all Star Wars all the time. =D